Illinois can set its own vaccine guidelines, bypassing Trump administration

"State lawmakers say the new law is the first of its kind. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) signed it just days before a federal vaccine panel plans to vote on major changes to America's childhood immunization schedule. Illinois is among several Democratic-led states developing their own systems to assess vaccines, an attempt to address warnings by some public health officials that the Trump administration has politicized vaccine science."

"In June, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., fired members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel and replaced them with advisers aligned with his vaccine-skeptical views. The remade panel voted to tighten eligibility for covid shots in September. And this week, it will decide whether to stop recommending that all newborns be given a vaccine for hepatitis B, a virus that can cause liver damage and cancer."

Illinois now has legal authority to issue its own vaccine guidance and require state-regulated insurers to cover vaccines recommended by a state advisory panel, independent of federal CDC recommendations. The state public health department can base guidance on advice from its own expert advisory committee. Several Democratic-led states are building separate systems to assess vaccines amid concerns that federal vaccine science has become politicized. Federal changes included firing CDC advisory panel members, replacing them with advisers holding vaccine-skeptical views, and narrowing covid shot eligibility. The federal panel is also weighing whether to stop recommending newborn hepatitis B vaccination.

Read at The Washington Post